Appeals court stays restraining order against CCISD

 Plaintiffs’ response due Oct. 8; underlying lawsuit remains pending

The 13th Court of Appeals granted emergency relief to Calhoun County ISD Oct. 5, temporarily staying provisions of a restraining order that blocked the district from moving forward with its budget and tax rate, voter-approval tax rate election and school consolidation decisions.

Chief Justice Jaime Tijerina and Justices Jenny Cron and Ysmael Fonseca granted the emergency motion in a mandamus proceeding brought by CCISD, its Board of Trustees, board President Bill Shrader and Superintendent Evan Cardwell.

The appellate court stayed paragraphs (a) through (d) of the temporary restraining order, or TRO, signed Oct. 1 by District Judge Julie C. Bauknight, including “any attempted extensions thereof.” The provisions remain stayed “pending further order of this Court or the resolution of this original proceeding,” the order states.

Those provisions had restrained the district from implementing or enforcing the closure and consolidation of Port O’Connor Elementary School, transferring Seadrift School seventh- and eighth-grade students to Travis Middle School, implementing its 2026-27 budget and tax rate and administering the Nov. 3 voter-approval tax rate election, known as a VATRE.

The appellate court’s order does not dismiss the underlying lawsuit or determine whether the plaintiffs’ allegations have merit. The lawsuit alleges violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act related to the challenged board actions.

In its petition for writ of mandamus, CCISD contends the trial court abused its discretion in issuing the TRO and asks the appellate court to direct Bauknight to vacate the challenged provisions.

The district argues the trial court improperly restrained an election that had already been ordered and was underway. According to the petition, the VATRE was ordered Aug. 17, the last day an election could be ordered for Nov. 3 under the Texas Election Code, and ballots had already been finalized and distributed.

CCISD also challenges the trial court’s finding that the TRO was necessary to preserve the status quo. The district argues the Port O’Connor Elementary closure and Seadrift transition had already been implemented before the lawsuit was filed and the TRO was issued. It further argues that requiring students to return to their previous campuses mid-semester would cause disruption that could not be remedied on appeal.

The petition also addresses conflicting start times published for the Aug. 17 meeting at which the district adopted its budget and tax rate and ordered the VATRE.

The district’s posted Open Meetings Act agenda listed a 6 p.m. start time, and the meeting was called to order at 6 p.m. A separate published notice for the budget and proposed tax rate hearing listed the meeting at 5:30 p.m.

CCISD argues its Open Meetings Act notice was accurate and the separate budget and tax rate notice substantially complied with state law because anyone arriving at 5:30 p.m. would have been present when the meeting began 30 minutes later.

“It sent the public to the right place, on the right day, for the right purpose,” the district’s mandamus petition states. “No one who relied on the notice could have missed any part of the meeting.”

CCISD also filed a plea to the jurisdiction Oct. 5 in the underlying lawsuit, asking the district court to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims and dissolve the TRO.

The district argues governmental immunity protects CCISD and its officials from suit unless the plaintiffs have alleged facts establishing a violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.

For purposes of that jurisdictional challenge, CCISD says that even if the plaintiffs’ factual allegations are accepted as true, they do not establish a violation sufficient to waive governmental immunity.

The district also disputes allegations that board decisions were reached through improper communications outside an open meeting, arguing the plaintiffs have not alleged communications involving enough trustees to constitute a quorum.

Superintendent Evan Cardwell had not responded to The Wave’s Oct. 4 request for comment as of press time.

Plaintiffs Brandy Boriskie, Melissa Gee, Lauren Griffith, Leslie Morris, Samantha Morales, Tammy Rigamonti and Lacey Vasquez were ordered to respond to CCISD’s petition for writ of mandamus within three days of the Oct. 5 appellate order.

Both the mandamus petition and the underlying district-court lawsuit remain pending. The appellate ruling temporarily suspends the TRO’s operative restrictions but does not resolve the plaintiffs’ claims.